Politicians and bureaucrats never own up to or acknowledge their mistakes, so all road building will never fix Auckland and indeed, only jam it up more.

Barcelona had this same problem and flooded their city with free public transport for a year.

Once everyone got used to the idea and were using it, then they put on a small and gradually increasing charge distance-wise and people thus stayed with the plan.

We should ditch the America's Cup and start a South Pacific World Yachting Cup with clear honest rules so the participants can win it on the water and not in the courtroom.

Put the $27-odd million for our flag change towards fitting a Kiwi or Silver Fern - or both - under the present Union Jack and put the rest towards the South Pacific World Yachting Cup.

And if you want to stop people texting etc in vehicles take the car away for a month.
As soon as the first few get caught and started telling their friends, problem solved.

All this is in the sky, solely due to politicians and bureaucrats, who never own up to or acknowledge their mistakes.

R McGuinness, Tauranga City.